


Youthful Expression

by Slush



Category: Naruto
Genre: Aged-up Tenten, F/M, Implied sexual content but pretty much PG, Just some normal teacher-student bonding over smutty books, Make-Out Paradise, Maybe implied relationship but not really obvious??, Power Dynamics, Sexual Tension, Teacher-Student Relationship, Tenten pushes the boundaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-09 21:41:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20124286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slush/pseuds/Slush
Summary: Gai catches Tenten reading Kakashi's favourite book, Make-Out Paradise, and decides to take this as an opportunity to remind Tenten that he is still her sensei.





	Youthful Expression

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Tenten is 20. Tenten has started reading Kakashi’s dirty books. Gai will always be Tenten’s sensei. 
> 
> Just some slightly sexual, relatively light-hearted, dialogue-heavy fun.

Tenten sat in the hospital chair – or rather, half-sat, half-lay in a seemingly-awkward arrangement of limbs which she had deemed to be the most comfortable position in which to read: one leg was draped over the armrest, foot swinging slightly; the other was raised over the back of the chair, whilst her body lay against the other armrest. She held the book in the air above her head, lost in its pages.  
  
She heard a stir from the other side of the room and glanced over.  
  
Gai was sitting slightly upright in bed, propped up on a single elbow; the other arm wrapped in bandages and suspended from the ceiling. He had more bandages criss-crossing over his chest, and over the bridge of his nose. Despite clearly having suffered some painful injuries, his eyes looked over at Tenten in a gentle, sleepy daze.  
  
Taking a moment to register Gai’s wakefulness, Tenten snapped out of her literary world with an exclamation of mild surprise, and quickly stood up from the chair.  
  
“You’re up,” she said, closing the book and putting it on the table as she walked towards Gai.  
  
“Tenten… How long have I been out?”  
  
“Only a few hours,” she replied. “We got back from the mission this morning and I took you straight here.”  
  
Gai said nothing as he tried to remember the events of the mission. “Ah…” he began as his memories started to return.  
  
Tenten frowned. “You were too reckless,” she said, and poked his chest with her finger. “You didn’t need to end up in hospital like this.”  
  
Gai looked down at her finger, then back up at the girl, and a blush spread across his cheeks.  
  
“You need to be more careful, Gai-sensei.”  
  
“Gai-_sensei_,” he repeated, with a smile, trying to ignore the betraying colour of his face. “I’m the sensei, not you,” he teased. “Have you forgotten that?”  
  
“You may technically be my sensei, but I’m a jonin now. That’s all it is – a technicality.” She smirked back at him as she jabbed his chest with her finger again, enjoying the blush on his cheeks.  
  
There was a disturbance outside the room, and then the door opened and Sakura walked in with a clipboard.  
  
“Hey Sakura, good timing. Thanks for coming,” Tenten said, folding her arms.  
  
“Gai-sensei, you’re awake, that’s good,” the pink-haired kunoichi said.  
  
Gai turned his head up to Tenten. “See that, Tenten? Sakura still knows I’m the sensei.” Tenten rolled her eyes with a smile.  
  
“I’m here to heal the fracture and tissue damage in your arm, then you’ll be free to leave when I’m finished. But I’d suggest keeping all your bandages on for the next 24 hours.”  
  
Within 10 minutes, Sakura had performed a healing jutsu on his arm, checked Gai’s vitals, and scribbled some satisfactory notes about his condition on her clipboard before leaving Tenten and Gai alone again.  
  
“I’ll let you get changed, Gai-sensei,” Tenten said as she turned to leave the room – but then hesitated at her choice of words for addressing him, and quickly glanced over at Gai. He had a smug grin on his face. Tenten simply grinned back and left the room for a few minutes.  
  
When she came back in, the man was once again fully clothed in his green jumpsuit, in the process of tying his headband around his waist. His flak jacket still lay on the table at the end of the bed, and Tenten let her eyes wander mindlessly over his body. He looked more like his normal self, she thought, bar the bandages still visible across his nose and one of his wrists.  
  
“Shall we go, _senpai_?” Tenten said.  
  
Gai chuckled. “Do I need to find a way to remind you that I’m still the sensei?”  
  
“How are you gonna do that?” Tenten challenged.  
  
“Hmm… I’ll have to let you know,” Gai said. He reached out and ruffled her hair. Now it was Tenten’s time to go red.  
  
“Ah, don’t forget your…” Gai began, picking up Tenten’s book from its place on the table. Tenten froze, and suddenly reached out to try to snatch the book back from Gai’s grip, but he held it away from her.  
  
“Tenten!!! Why is a youthful kunoichi such as yourself reading such indecent books?!” he exclaimed, still holding it out of Tenten’s reach as she frantically waved her arms at him, struggling. Gai’s cheeks were red as he flipped the book around and quickly scanned his eyes over the back cover to read the blurb.  
  
“I-- I saw it in a shop, and I just thought-- Seeing as how much Kakashi-sensei loves them, and Master Jiraiya’s so famous for writing them--“  
  
Gai twisted away from Tenten, still unrelenting in her effort to retrieve the book, and he grinned as he flicked through the pages. “My, my, Tenten, very unyouthful indeed--“  
  
“Give it back!”  
  
Gai laughed as he hid the book behind his back, taking a step away from Tenten. “Then, as my first act of reminding you that I am sensei, I’m going to confiscate this book.”  
  
“That’s not fair!” Tenten cried out. “If you want to read it that badly, you could just borrow a copy from Kakashi.”  
  
The man feigned horror with a gasp, and shook his head disapprovingly. “What insolence. Clearly I’ll need to teach you a thing or two about respecting your superiors.”  
  
Tenten grinned. “Well, I’m going to hit the training field with Neji. You can read that whilst you’re at home recovering on your 24 hour training-ban.”  
  
“I’ve not been banned from training.”  
  
“Well, from one jonin to another, I think you should take 24 hours off training to recover.”  
  
Gai glared at her, but he had a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Tenten giggled and turned to walk out the room.  
  
\---  
  
Tenten reached over her head and leaned to the side, stretching out her abdominal muscles. The air had a certain crispness at this hour of the morning, she thought, even in the peak of the summer – the sun was gentle, slowly warming the leaves and evaporating the dew off the grass of the training field.  
  
She heard a noise behind her and twisted around. There stood Gai, the bandages on his face removed, and now looking completely recovered. He raised his hand to show Tenten her copy of Make-Out Paradise, and, looking at her with a deadpan expression, lowered it down onto her extended hand.  
  
“Enjoy it?” Tenten teased, flashing her teeth in a smile.  
  
“Your youthfulness is even more corrupted than I first thought.”  
  
“That means yours has been corrupted too, senpai.”  
  
“Are you under the assumption I’ve read this book?”  
  
“There’s no way you spent a night with that book without reading it from cover to cover,” Tenten replied, and immediately regretted her choice of words. She didn’t mean to imply he spent a night with that book, as such, just that it was now morning the day after she had lent it to him – not that she had even lent it to him, as he was the one who had taken it from her--  
  
Gai seemed to catch on, raising a thick dark eyebrow in curiosity. “Well, I had to assess just how bad the situation was,” he replied slowly.  
  
“And it’s bad?”  
  
“It’s bad.”  
  
Tenten breathed deeply and put her hands on her hips. “That’s… too bad,” she reckoned. “And what now? Are you going to have to beat the indecency out of me?”  
  
Gai put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. “That could work.” He stretched out the sides of his abdomen, rolled his shoulders backwards and forwards, and shook out his limbs.  
  
“Okay, let’s start off training with 500 sit-ups, followed by 500 push-ups. After that we can do some light sparring.”  
  
“And by then you’ll have decided whether I need my unyouthfulness beaten out of me?”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
\---  
  
On push-up number 276, Tenten lifted her head to look at Gai.  
  
“So, Gai-senpai,” she began, in between puffs of breath. He looked across at her. “What parts of that book did you find especially unyouthful?”  
  
Gai’s cheeks turned pink, and he coughed slightly. “Do you consider this to be proper training discussion?”  
  
Tenten laughed, raising herself on push-up number 292. “I’m just curious. I’m not sure I understand the distinction between ‘youthful romance’ and your so-called ‘indecent expression’ of that youthful romance.”  
  
Gai exhaled loudly through his nose, possibly in humour, possibly in physical exertion.  
  
“It’s not the act of the… expression… which is unyouthful. It’s the manner in which such expressions are written.”  
  
“I’m not sure I understand, senpai.”  
  
Gai grunted on push-up number 311. Tenten looked over, but he was staring at the ground, his black hair falling over his eyes. “One would not choose such a book to read about romance. They would choose such a book to satisfy their other… err…”  
  
“Needs?” Tenten suggested.  
  
“Desires,” Gai answered.  
  
“I see,” Tenten said, her chest heaving. “So, like I said, which parts do you consider especially unyouthful?”  
  
Gai made another grunting noise. Tenten was sure he doesn’t normally sound so exasperated during routine push-ups training. Perhaps his injuries from the previous day were causing extra strain on his body?  
  
“I’ll get back to you on that,” Gai said.  
  
\---  
  
Tenten had just dipped to avoid one of Gai’s punches, and took a swift step to the side to block a follow-up hammerfist to the face. She ducked again and lifted her leg into a head-kick, which Gai elegantly dodged.  
  
“At the end of chapter 7,” Gai said as he took a step backwards, “the main character uses very unyouthful methods to reveal his true feelings to the woman.”  
  
Tenten smiled. “You mean by writing that letter to her?” She leapt over him, lurching forward to attack him from behind, but he had already turned to face her and quickly blocked her punch. “I thought letters were supposed to be romantic,” she continued.  
  
“It wasn’t just the letter,” Gai replied, absorbing Tenten’s strike and almost causing her to lose her balance. “Although, writing every last vulgar detail of his explicit dream about her can hardly be considered a romantic gesture.”  
  
“What else, then, if not the letter?” Tenten said, almost catching Gai in another head-kick, but not quite.  
  
“The scene the following evening. When they both met at the foot of the bell tower,” Gai answered as he deflected Tenten’s knee with the blade of his hand.  
  
“Oh, the bit where he pulled up her dress and fucked her against the wall?”  
  
Gai was caught by surprise, and he left it too late to block an oncoming strike to his head, instead resorting to stepping backwards clumsily, causing him to trip on a tree root which he was positive was not there 10 seconds ago, and sending him sprawling backwards through the air, Tenten in tow.  
  
He landed on his back, the impact very nearly knocking the breath out of his lungs – although whether said breath-knocking impact was verbal or physical, he did not know.  
  
Tenten grinned as she leaned down over Gai, her hands pressed against his collarbones, her chest still heaving. “Did you not like that bit?”  
  
Gai swallowed, frowned, and licked his lips once. “I did not deem that particular scene youthful, no.”  
  
“But it was the climax of their passion, Gai-senpai,” Tenten said. “And it even used a youthful metaphor of the bell tower, chiming out their love for one another.”  
  
She watched as Gai fidgeted slightly under her weight, and decided that she would give the man a bit more room to struggle. She raised herself slowly, until she was sitting upright, still kneeling on either side of his body.  
  
Gai began to push himself up with his elbows, but before he could do so, Tenten placed her hands back on his chest and forced him back down to the ground.  
  
He looked up at her, his expression ambiguous, but his cheeks unmistakably pink.  
  
“Maybe, Gai-senpai,” she said, smiling down at him, “you’re the one who could do with a lesson or two. Maybe you need someone to teach you.”  
  
Gai held her stare, and did not blink. “To teach me what?”  
  
Tenten considered her response. “What girls really want.”  
  
With that, she removed her hands from his chest, and stood gracefully upwards, not so much as glancing at the breathless Gai who still lay flat against the floor.  
  
Tenten pretended to readjust her headband as she looked off into the trees, hearing Gai standing up and straightening himself out behind her.  
  
After a moment, she turned back around, and smiled.  
  
“So, if vulgar letters have been ruled out, and you don’t consider… impromptu public fornication… to be proper,” Tenten said, “then how is one supposed to ‘youthfully’ reveal their feelings to a girl?”  
  
“Why, Tenten, that’s simple.”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“He should just tell her.”  
  
“No romantic gesture?”  
  
“Only once she has confirmed that she returns his feelings.”  
  
“And if she does?”  
  
Gai licked his lips again. “Then he may make a romantic gesture.”  
  
Tenten had her hands held behind her back, and was standing quite close to Gai – so close, in fact, that he was not sure how she managed to get quite so close without him noticing.  
  
“A romantic gesture… Like?”  
  
“Like a kiss.”  
  
“Just a kiss?”  
  
Tenten smiled up at Gai. He stared down at her with a stern, solemn, Gai-like expression. There were a few moments of quiet anticipation.  
  
“Tenten?” Gai asked.  
  
“Yes, Gai-sensei?” Tenten replied.  
  
Gai paused for a moment. There it was. He was 'Gai-sensei' again. Tenten was very close now. She waited patiently for the next question to leave his lips.  
  
“Tenten…” he started. “Did you like that scene in chapter 17, at the very end of the book?”  
  
Tenten’s shoulders raised indignantly and she let out a yell. “No! I haven’t got that far yet!” she cried. “Don’t tell me what happens!”  
  
“Really? You didn’t even read up to the bit where the main character gets his--“  
  
“Stop!” Tenten said, and in a desperate attempt to shut him up, clasped her pale hand around Gai’s mouth. His smile was hidden under her fingers, but she could see the humour twinkling in his eyes. “I haven’t finished reading it yet,” she reiterated.  
  
After a moment, with Tenten’s hand still covering his mouth, Gai nodded slowly. Tenten looked at him suspiciously, and, deciding that this was Gai's way of promising he would not betray the ending of the book, she carefully removed her hand from his face.  
  
“So... You don’t want me to tell you what happens at the end?” Gai said.  
  
“No. Please don’t tell me.”  
  
“Well then, Tenten, my dear student,” Gai said, and took a step towards her. “Would you like me to show you?”  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Bet you were expecting some dirty, kinky sex scenes, huh? Sorry. I kinda wrote this whole fic without meaning to, and it naturally came to a neat ending before I'd managed to fit any actual sexual content in it. I might write some more (maybe a part 2 where they actually get it on). 
> 
> GaiLee is always and forever my OTP, without a doubt... BUT I can't deny that GaiTen has always occupied a special little place in my heart. The difficult thing is, in order to make GaiTen work, I have to essentially remove Lee from the equation. So just pretend he's on a 2 week-long mission and/or Neji's boyfriend or something. 
> 
> One more thing - I've always debated whether Gai would be super bold in expressing his feelings towards someone for the first time, or if the thought would actually make him feel slightly uncomfortable, or nervous, or even insecure. Either way, I figure he'd experience some level of mental discomfort where a previous student is concerned. I decided he's probably a bit of both. He hides behind his persona of 'brazen, tough, confident Gai', who is in charge, confident in love, and a bit flirty, but secretly has his own insecurities behind the surface.


End file.
